51 Plus 72
by DreamWvr73
Summary: 9 in the Min & Johnny Series-- Trouble strikes all residents of LA when an earthquake hits the city.


Min was sleeping soundly when she felt a hand touch her on the shoulder and shake it.

"Min?"

She opened her eyes slowly; she could see her husband dressed in his uniform. "It's 5 30, I have to go now."

She pulled the blankets off of her and sat up. "So when will you be coming home?"

Johnny sat down beside her. "Well the shifts starts 6 am today, I should be off Thursday at 6am."

Min sighed. "Three days, I'm not going to see you for three whole days."

"It won't be that bad. I'll call you whenever I have time to, okay?"

"You just watch yourself."

"I will." Johnny stood up; he bent down and kissed her. "Will you be going to the club?"

"Yeah, as usual I got papers to shuffle and booze to order."

"Okay, I'll call you as soon as I can."

Min reached up and took his hand. "Play nice with the other firemen, okay?"

Johnny nodded and squeezed her hand. "Love you."

"Love you too."

He let go of her hand and Min watched as he picked up his gym back and left the bedroom. She heard the front door closed and she sighed as she laid back down on the bed, it was going to be a long three days.

Johnny arrived at the station 10 minutes later; he put his gym bag in his locker and walked into the kitchen. Roy was sitting at the table drinking coffee.

"Morning Partner, ready for a 3-fer?" He got a mug out of the pantry and poured himself a cup.

"Morning, yeah I'm ready, what about you?"

"No problem." He sipped his coffee and pulled out a chair. "So what's JoAnne going to do with three days without you?"

"Probably go to her mother's house with the kids, what about Min? Isn't this the first time you've gotten a 3-fer since you met her?"

Johnny nodded. "Yeah it is she wasn't too happy about it either."

Roy looked at his partner's hand; his gold ring caught the light. "It looks weird to see that ring on your finger, it really does."

Johnny looked down at it; he wiggled his fingers a little. "Believe me it's weird to me too, it's been almost a year now Roy, the time has gone pretty fast."

"The first few years do."

Johnny got up and opened the fridge; he added some milk to his coffee. "So does the Cap have any plans for this three day adventure?"

"We'll find out when he gets here won't we?"

The rest of 51 came into the kitchen as Johnny sat back down at the table, it was Chet's turn to make breakfast and he rubbed his hands together.

"Good Morning Gentlemen and what would be your distinct dining pleasure this morning?"

Roy shrugged "I don't know Chet, something that's going to tide us over for a while."

Johnny smiled as he brought his coffee cup to his lips. "Anything that won't require a stomach pump or a quick trip to the bathroom." 

The men all started to laugh, Johnny had torpedoed Chet but good. The stunned fireman's jaw was on the floor. "I can't believe you said that Gage!"

Johnny simply grinned at him. "What's wrong Chet can't take a little constructive criticism?"

"Coming from you, no."

Captain Stanley was starving and two of his firemen arguing was not going to get breakfast made any quicker. "So what are you going to make for breakfast?"

Chet thought about it. "How about French toast?

"Perfect, let's get it going, Johnny why don't you lend him a hand?"

"Sure Cap." Johnny finished his coffee and got up from the table, he set his cup down in the sink. "So what do you want me to do Chet?"

"Get out the milk and the eggs." Chet opened the oven and got a skillet, he set it down on the burner. 

Johnny set them down on the counter and took the loaf of bread down from the top of the fridge. "Here you go, anything else?"

Chet shook his head. "Nah, that'll do."

"Have a seat Johnny."

Johnny sat back down and Captain Stanley stood up. "Okay you all know that we are pulling a 3-fer, I want us to use this extra time to do as much as we can in terms of cleaning around here. I want Chet, Marco and Mike to wash and polish the engine. Johnny and Roy you two do the squad, hopefully we'll get it done in between calls but if we can't we can always start back up again."

After breakfast was over and the kitchen as cleaned, Roy got behind the wheel of the squad truck and started it up. Johnny hit the button on the wall and the big white door slowly opened up. Roy drove the truck halfway down the driveway and stopped.

"So have you thought about moving up the chain?" Roy got out of the driver's side door and began unbuttoning his shirt; he hung it on the nearby flagpole.

"No, not really." Johnny came out of the garage and unbuttoned his shirt, he hung it on top of Roy's. He was wearing a bright red t-shirt that said. **FIREMEN DO IT WITH THEIR BOOTS ON. ** 

"I like being a paramedic; I don't want to be a captain just yet, maybe in a few years."****

Roy had the hose in his hand and was starting to wet down the truck, he saw Johnny's t-shirt and started to laugh. "Let me guess where you got that from."

Johnny set the bucket of soap down near the back of the truck. "My wife."

"Why can't you just wear a white t-shirt underneath your uniform?"

Johnny picked up the sponge and began soaping the truck. "You mean like you do?"

"Yeah."

"That would be boring!"

Roy turned off the hose and got another sponge out of the bucket and began working on the other side. "You mean normal."

Johnny stopped washing. "Roy, how long have we been partners?"

He thought about it for a moment. "You just had your anniversary, 6 years."

"Right and during all that time how rare is it for me to do what's normal?"

"Pretty rare."

"Exactly! So why should I start now?"

It was lunchtime and Min had decided to walk around the corner to the little pizza place. It was called Giovanni's and was owned by a very nice older gentleman, his name was Alfredo and he reminded Min of an Italian version of Santa Claus. He was wearing his usual white apron and was tossing pizza dough in the air and catching it, when he saw Min walk in, he smiled widely.

"Hello Beautiful Lady."

Alfredo had lived in America for over 40 years but sometimes a tiny bit of an Italian accent would slip out. The word lady sounded like lay-a-dee and that made the young woman smile a little.

"Hi Fredo, how's business?"

"Good especially in the evenings and on weekends."

The pizzeria was so close to the club that some of Min's customers often went into it for food, especially when the club closed.

"I'm glad; I just came by for some lunch."

"Of course, anything you want I will gladly make for you."

Min looked up at the menu; there was a lot to choose from. "How about a small supreme?"

"No problem, you go find a table and give me 15 minutes to make it."

"Thanks."

She sat down at a nearby booth and watched as he started to make her pizza, she had her hands folded in front of her and saw her wedding ring. Johnny came into her mind and the image of his handsome face made her smile. She wondered what he was doing and if he started to miss her yet. It had only been one day but she missed him terribly, she had a hard time sleeping in an empty bed. Alfredo took a pan out of the oven and put it on a wooden plate; he brought it over to her and placed it in front of her.

"Here you go Min, one small supreme."

Min looked down at the pizza; it had pepperoni, sausage, onions and bell pepper. "It looks great Fredo, thank you."

"My pleasure, how is your brother and Johnny?"

"Good, they're both good, Johnny is working a 72 hour shift right now."

"Well, enjoy your pizza, if you need anything else, let me know."

"I will thanks Fredo."

The older man went back to the kitchen and Min sighed as she started eating her lunch.

Johnny was staring into his bowl of chili; he had his spoon in his hand and was pushing around the beans and meat.

"What's wrong Gage? Don't like my chili?"

"No it's good Chet; I'm just not too hungry."

Chet dropped his spoon and looked at the other table occupants. "Okay guys you heard it straight from the horse's mouth. Johnny said he's not hungry, feel free to make note of the date and time."

Roy set his spoon down and wiped his mouth with a napkin. "What's wrong Johnny?"

The paramedic looked at his partner and shrugged. "Nothing's wrong."

Marco couldn't resist adding his two cents. "He probably just misses his wife."

Johnny looked over at him. "And what if I do is something wrong with that?"

Roy wiped his mouth with a napkin. "Not in my book Johnny, I miss mine too."

Chet shook his head. "You two are so sappy."

Captain Stanley cleared his throat. "I miss mine too Chet, maybe when you marry Holly you'll understand."

The fireman nearly choked on his chili, he started coughing and quickly had a drink of his milk. "Who said I was going to marry Holly?"

Johnny saw his chance to get even with Chet for some of his past teasing. "Ohhh so you're _not_ going to marry her? Lucky girl!"

Chet sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. "Very funny Johnny boy."

Min was working in her office, it was now almost quitting time and she was trying to finish the band schedule for next week when her phone buzzed and she pressed the button.

"Yeah Bo."

"Min, we need to go down into the basement."

She leaned back in her chair and rubbed her eyes. "Why? I thought Sean was going to go down there and go over the booze before we opened."

"He _was_ but he's going to be late tonight he has that doctor's appointment."

Min sighed. "Oh all right, do you have the shipping list or do I?"

There was the sound of a drawer opening and closing. "I've got it with me, meet me at the stairs."

"Okay." She turned off the intercom and set her chair back down on all four legs.

The basement stairs were just off of the kitchen, they were invisible except for the two dark grey handrails, if it wasn't for them someone could easily fall into the hole and break their neck. Bo was standing there with one hand on his hip; the other was holding a brown clipboard. Min whistled at him, he was wearing a pair of red shorts and a red tank top.

"Oh such sexy legs Bo."

"Cute, come on let's get to it. The sooner we find out what's down there the quicker we can go home."

"Yeah I know."

Min gripped the handrails and walked down into the hole, she flipped on the light switch that was against the wall. The dark basement was now brightly lit. She looked back up at her brother.

"Well what are you waiting for? An engraved invitation?"

Bo made a face at his sister and started down the steps. "Relax I'm coming."

Min reached the bottom, the basement was huge, there were tables and stools along the north wall. The rest of the space was filled with boxes that were piled at least six feet high. The walls were made up of grey cinder blocks that made the room seem cold; it had a strong musty smell to it.  

"It's been a while since I've been down here."

"I know but there is hardly any booze in the store room that's what we're looking for. I remember Scott and Kevin helping me haul boxes of booze down here when the store room was full."

"I don't suppose you remember where you put them?"

"Somewhere in the middle."

Min made her way through the stacks, they were very high and they made her feel short in comparison, all she was finding was boxes of snacks. "Well we've got enough peanuts, popcorn and pretzels to last us 'til the end of time but I don't see any booze."

Bo sighed as he walked around looking at all the boxes. "They've got to be here somewhere."

Min turned down the next row of boxes and crouched down. She saw the words "Fine Kentucky Whiskey" on all of the boxes. "Hey Bo I found some whiskey over here, I think this is the booze section."

"Great! What else is over there?"

She looked the stacks next to the whiskey. "I see gin and brandy."

Bo met up with her and took his knife out of his pocket; he slit open the box and pulled out a bottle. "Ahhh Napoleon brandy the best in the world, care for a snort?"

Min wrinkled her nose. "Thank you, no I think it's a little too early in the day for snorting brandy."

"Party pooper."

Min had gotten home later then she wanted too, not that it mattered the apartment was empty. She kicked off her sandals and flopped down on the couch. She sighed heavily, she missed her husband terribly and she hadn't talk to him since that morning. She wondered if he was available for a quick chat as she got up from the couch and went into the kitchen. She picked up the phone and dialed the station.

"Station 51, Fireman Kelly."

"Hi Chet its Min, can I talk to Johnny?"

"Sure, hold on a second."

She heard Chet tell her husband he had a phone call. "Hello?"

The sound of his voice made her smile. "Hi Honey, how's it going?"

"Good, what are you doing?" 

"I just got home from work."

"Did you finish your paperwork?"

Min laughed. "Mostly yeah, my brother and I were poking around in the basement doing a liquor count, it's creepy down there."

"What are you going to do tonight?"

"Nothing, just stay home and miss you."

Johnny sighed. "I miss you too, but I'll be home soon."

"I know it just seems like the time is creeping by. Well I better let you go, I love you Johnny."

"I love you too Min, bye."

"Bye."

Min hung up the phone; she opened up her fridge and got out a soda. She took a sip and leaned against the counter. "Now what do I do?"

There was a strange sound and Min creased her brow, she wasn't sure that it was at first but then it dawned on her; it was the sound of the glasses in her cupboard rattling. She turned and saw that the cabinets were gently moving, this puzzled her.

"What in the world-"

That's when it hit, the ground started to shake violently, her refrigerator fell over and nearly crushed the young woman.  Min tried to keep her balance; it was like trying to walk across a floor covered with piano keys with the ground was rising and falling beneath her feet. She finally made it to the door and tried to open it but it was jammed, there were pieces of plaster falling like snowflakes on her. She pulled with all her might on the door but it wouldn't budge she looked up and saw that the roof had shifted and was resting on the top of the door. 

"Damn it!"

She went over to the coffee table and picked up a vase, she was going to smash the window with it. She started back when the floor shifted dramatically beneath her feet like a seesaw. The vase in her hands went flying and there was a terrible cracking sound that was coming from below her. The floor gave way suddenly knocking Min down. She could tell by the feeling in the pit of her stomach that she was going down, it reminded her of a roller coaster that had taken a sudden drop and the floor finally came to a stop. Min was breathing hard, she opened her eyes and realized that she was on the second level; her apartment was on the third. She looked up and saw the ceiling was coming towards her; she barely had enough time to blink before it hit.

The men of station 51 had been split up; Marco, Chet, Mike and Captain Stanley were all in the garage area working on the engine. They had already washed it and were busy waxing the bright red truck and cleaning the windows. Johnny and Roy were in the bunkhouse; they were stripping the sheets off of the beds and replacing them with clean sheets. It all happened so fast they hardly had time to react to it, the ground started to jump and move beneath their feet; being in California for awhile now the two men knew instantly what was happening.

"Earthquake! Take cover!" It was the voice of Captain Stanley the two men heard coming from the garage amidst the rumbling of the ground.  

Johnny and Roy had no place to take shelter, the small brick walls between the beds were falling down and pieces of ceiling was raining down on the two men. Johnny got hit in the back of the head with a piece of timber and he hit the floor hard. Roy tried to help him when he also got hit; both men were lying on the floor unconscious when the whole room crumbled like a house of cards.  

There was the sound of exploding glass as the roof came down and broke the three windows in the room; the angle of the fallen roof also blocked the three doors. There were bricks and broken glass showering everything in the room. The support beams also came down, the long pieces of wood were heavy and thick. Johnny and Roy were now buried under bricks, cement, glass and broken support beams.

Marco, Chet and Mike came out from underneath the engine. Captain Stanley had crawled underneath the squad. Everything had stopped shaking and the men looked around, the garage was fine.

"Marco, go outside and see how bad we were hit."

"You got it Cap." Marco was a little shaken up; he went out the front door and came back a split second later. "Cap the left side is down!"

Hank looked at who was unaccounted for; he saw that Johnny and Roy were missing. "That's the bunkhouse, what else has been damaged?" 

Marco went to the kitchen door and went in. He saw that it was a mess, the table was turned over, the chairs were scattered and the fridge was lying face down. He came back out.

"Cap the kitchen is messed up but it's not too bad."

Hank went over to the bunkhouse door and saw that it was filled with bricks and the roof was blocking it.

"Johnny! Roy! Can you hear me?" He started moving bricks, the rest of the men came in and he turned and looked at them. "Chet, Mike, help me, Marco go back out and see if the bunkhouse is completely flat or can we cut our way in."

"I'll go get some pry bars." Chet got two pry bars out of the engine, he handed one to Mike and the two men started prying bricks out of the door way.

Marco came back into the garage; he was a little out of breath. "Cap, the only wall left is the one on the far side; I think we can cut it."

Hank stood up and dusted off his hands. "Okay Marco you and I will get the K12 and cut the wall. Chet you and Mike keep trying to clear this doorway."

The two men went outside and Captain Stanley felt his heart sink into his toes when he saw the left side of the station.  It looked like a hand had come down on top of the roof and had pushed it down. It was not totally flat though, the one wall on the far side had held up and he was hoping that was the section that the two paramedics were in otherwise he feared they might not have survived. Marco stood beside him holding the K12 saw.

"See Cap, only that far wall is left. I figure that's our way in."

Hank nodded. "Yeah that's our best bet."

Marco saw how squashed the building looked and he swallowed hard. "Cap, do you think they're okay?"

"I don't know Marco, I hope so."

Chet and Mike were making good progress on the door, they had cleared away a lot of the bricks and with the port-a-power they had part of the fallen roof propped up high enough for someone to crawl under it. Chet moved a few more bricks and set his pry bar down.

"Okay Mike, I'm going to go in."

"Here you better take this." 

It was a flashlight; Chet tucked it into his pocket. "Thanks, I'll holler if I find anything."

Chet got down on all fours and carefully crawled underneath the roof; he came out on the other side and took the flashlight out of his pocket. It was dark and smelled of dust; he turned it on and saw there was a sea of bricks and timber. He shined the light upwards and saw there was just enough space to sit up. He did so and looked around for any clues that would lead him to his friends.

"Roy? Johnny?"

He duck walked towards the middle of the room, he moved some of the fallen timber out of the way. "Roy? Johnny? It's Chet, make some noise if you can hear me."

Chet went a little further and saw the one intact wall that Marco had mentioned. He heard the sound of the K12 saw starting up and he knew it would only take a few minutes for the saw to cut through the brick wall. He heard the sound of a brick falling and he whipped around and shone the light in the area near Captain Stanley's bed. "Roy? Johnny?"

He duck walked over to it and saw there was a pile of timber that crisscrossed on top of a huge pile of bricks. He saw something blue and dusty at the bottom of the pile. It looked like a uniform shirt and this made Chet's heart start to beat hard as he set the flashlight down and started moving bricks out of the way. 

"Mike! I think I found them!"

He tried to move the timber but it was too heavy. He heard the sound of more falling brick and bright light suddenly filled the room. 

"Cap! Marco! I think I found them but I need some help over here!"

The two men crouched down and crawled in through the hole, they saw Chet was trying to move timber.

"Are they there?"

"I think so Cap, there's a little bit of blue here I think its part of a shirt but this wood is too heavy for me to move alone." Chet was straining hard but it wouldn't budge. "We might have to cut it."

Marco had the saw in his hand and he handed it to Chet. "Here you go."

"Thanks." Chet pulled the cord and the saw burst into life, he brought the blade down across the wood.

"One, two, three!" All four men pushed on the wood and it moved they pushed on it again and moved it off of the pile; they put it on the floor. There were two more fallen timbers under it and each man grabbed one and hauled it off, they started moving aside the bricks tossing them over their shoulders. They had disposed of at least a dozen bricks and finally they uncovered their two friends. Roy was lying with his head and shoulders on top of his partner's back obviously he had been trying to help his friend when he too was knocked out, both men were covered with thick dust. 

Chet touched Roy on the wrist. "I feel a pulse Cap."

Hank sighed out of relief. "Mike, Marco, get him out of here and take him to the garage, get the drug box out of the squad."

Marco was at Roy's feet and Mike was at his head, they carefully rolled him over and picked him up. Johnny was also lying face down and there was blood on the collar of his shirt. Chet touched his neck and felt the steady thumping of a heartbeat.

"He's alive Cap."

"Help me roll him over."

Chet placed one hand on Johnny's left shoulder and gently rolled him onto his back. He sat him up and tucked his hands underneath his arm pits and began to drag him towards the hole.

Marco and Mike had taken the drug box out of the squad along with two yellow tarps, they spread them out on the ground and Roy was lying down on one of them. Captain Stanley and Chet brought Johnny in and laid him down beside his partner.

"Marco hand me a smelling salt tablet." Hank kneeled down and took off his gloves then took the tablet from Marco. He broke it with his fingers and waved it under the noses of his two unconscious paramedics. 

"Come on you two." He waved it again and the strong ammonia smell started to stir them. "Marco can I have another one please?"

"Sure Cap." He handed another tablet to the Captain.

Hank broke it and did the same thing. This time the smell made them both start to cough. Johnny pushed the Captain's hand away from his face and opened his eyes; he saw the faces of his fellow firefighters.

"What happened?" He tried to sit up but a wave of dizziness hit him, Hank put his hand on the paramedic's shoulder.

"Easy Johnny, we had to dig you and Roy out of the bunkhouse or what's left of the bunkhouse."

Roy opened his eyes and groaned. "I feel like I've been pelted with baseballs."

Chet looked at his two friends, he was glad they were okay. "No but you're close you were pelted with bricks. I think you're both pretty lucky to be alive."

Johnny sat up and touched the back of his head, his hair was sticky and he looked at his fingers and they were bloody. "I think something got me."

Roy looked at him and nodded. "Yeah something did here let me see."

Johnny turned his back to his partner, his whole body felt like he had been run over and he was sure he was going to have bruises everywhere. Roy got up and carefully moved his partner's dark hair aside, it was bloody and looked at his head seeing he had an abrasion.

"Well?"

"It's just a scratch Johnny."

"Doesn't feel like a scratch, I've got a headache."

Roy sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "So do I."

"Do you both feel okay or should we take you to Rampart?"

The two paramedics looked at each other and Johnny shrugged his shoulders. "Despite my pounding head and battered body I'm okay what about you Roy?"

"Same here, I don't think we need to go and besides if that quake was bad enough to collapse the bunkhouse imagine what it did to the rest of the city?" He looked at Captain Stanley. "We're going to be needed."

Hank nodded. "All right then, I'll give HQ a call and tell them we're available and find out how the rest of the city is."

Johnny had gone to the kitchen; he turned on the faucet and splashed water on his face to wash off some of the dust. He leaned over the sink, the water was dripping from his face and everything hurt especially his head.

"You all right?"

He recognized the voice of his partner and he nodded slowly. "Yeah."

"You don't feel good do you?"

Johnny turned around and wiped off his face with a nearby dishtowel. "Not really but I'll be fine."

"Captain Stanley told HQ we're available, that quake was something there are collapsed buildings all over the city, the other stations are hopping."

"So why aren't we?"

Roy shrugged. "I don't know but I'm sure we'll get our chance."

"Yeah I'm sure we will too."

The alarm went off and both men ran into the garage.

_"Station 51, collapsed building…10532 Highland Park. 1-0-5-3-2  Highland Park, cross street Salem, time out 17:35."_

Captain Stanley acknowledged the alarm and handed the paper to Roy, the squad started up and he handed the paper to Johnny. He looked at the paper and he gasped, his heart froze in his chest. Roy turned to see the expression on his partner's face.

"What?"

Johnny's throat had gone dry but he forced himself to swallow. "The address…"

"What about it, 10532 Highland Park." The address swirled around in Roy's head; it suddenly dawned on him why it sounded familiar. "Oh my God, that's _your_ address."

Johnny leaned forward a bit; he felt really nauseous and his stomach was doing back flips but he couldn't tell if it was from the blow to his head or the thought that his wife might be in that collapsed building. Roy knew what his partner was thinking, he cleared his throat.

"Maybe she wasn't home Johnny."

"I just talked to her Roy before the quake hit, she had just gotten home from the club."

The squad made it to Highland Park, the apartment complex was at the top of the hill. They rounded the corner and Roy shut his eyes briefly when he saw the building, it was totally flat. Johnny was looking down at the floorboard of the truck; he lifted his face and looked at the tattered remains of his home. The truck stopped and Johnny took off his helmet and bolted from the passenger side.

"_Min!"_

He ran over to the huge pile of cement, bricks and twisted steel that stretched on forever and started moving debris aside, he was almost frantic. Roy got out of the truck and put on his coat and his gloves; he took Johnny's out of the truck and ran over to him.

"Here, put these on."

Johnny stopped what he was doing and looked up at his partner, his eyes were lifeless and his face was blank, he stood up slowly and took his coat and gloves, he put them on and went back to work. Roy left him for a moment and went over to the engine. The men were watching Johnny, they all knew the reason he was searching the rubble like a madman.

"Cap, I think we should take a couple of Kennedy probes and see if we can find any signs of life."

Hank nodded. "Chet, Marco, get out the probes, the rest of us will go help Gage."

Min was dreaming about dancing with her husband, she could feel his arms around her making her feel safe and secure. His arms were suddenly squeezing her too tight and she struggled against his grip, she tried to break free but she couldn't.  She looked at her husband but he was gone instead there were metal belts wrapped around her and they were squeezing her tighter and tighter. 

_"Johnny! Help me!"_

She opened her eyes and saw that everything was dark, there was something pressing against her but she couldn't tell what it was. She tried to put her hands against it but they were trapped.

"Hello? Can anyone hear me? Hello? Is anyone out there?"

She tried to move her body but it wouldn't, whatever was on top of her was big enough to keep her still, it felt like a giant iron. 

"Somebody help me, please help me!"

The air was growing thinner and she started to cough, it was getting harder to breathe and the lack of oxygen was making her feel drowsy. The last thing she wanted to do was go to sleep.

Johnny and the rest of 51 were working as fast as they could, they had already found a few survivors and they were on their way to the hospital. There was still no sign of Min and the idea that he might not find her scared him. He threw a few more chunks of concrete out of the way and a wave of dizziness hit him hard, he stopped what he was doing and waited for it to go away.  Roy had the headphones on he was listening for any signs of life with the probe, he saw his partner and he knew what was wrong with him. It was obvious Johnny had a concussion but he also knew that there was no way he was going to stop searching.

"Just a take a deep breath Johnny, it'll pass."

Johnny did what his partner advised and just like he said, the dizziness passed. "Thanks."

Roy stuck the probe under another pile of bricks and listened. "You really should go to Rampart." 

"I'm not going anywhere, not until I find her."

"Don't worry we will." Roy had moved the probe to another area and listened for a moment, he still heard nothing. 

Chet had the other Kennedy probe and was listening in another area, he picked up something and he touched his hand to his ear. "Hey I hear something!"

Mike, Marco and Captain Stanley all stopped their searching and went over to where Chet was. They started to dig through the rubble and they found a hand, a woman's hand. Hank touched the wrist, he felt a pulse. 

"I've got something; let's get her out of there."

They dug until they found the rest of her, it was an older woman. "Hey Johnny come here a second."

Johnny stopped digging and went over to where Chet was standing; he looked down at the woman they had just uncovered. "That's Mrs. Simms; she lives three doors down from us."

"Well maybe this is the right area to look for…that is… if you know what I mean." 

Johnny nodded. "Yeah good idea Chet, thanks."

Roy came over with the probe, carefully walking amongst the rubble; it was like walking across a mine field you could hit the wrong spot and be very sorry. 

"Hey Roy, let's try over here." Johnny was standing near part of the roof, it was dark brown and layered with tar paper and wood. He wanted his partner to check out this area.

Roy adjusted his earphones and stuck the probe under one corner of the roof, he stood still and listened.

Min was awake again, everything was still dark and she was hoping that everything had been a dream but no such luck she was still trapped. She wanted her husband but she didn't even know if he was alive, the idea that she might be a widow filled the young woman with incredible pain and she felt her own warm tears roll down her cheeks.

"Johnny…"

Roy started and put both hands to his ears, he heard something and he looked up at his partner, who was moving some bricks aside. "Johnny?"

"Yeah?"

"I think I just heard your name."

That stopped the fireman from searching, he turned around. "What?"

Roy stuck the probe in a little deeper and listened; he heard the sound of sniffling. "I heard your name and I hear somebody, it sounds like they're crying."

Johnny took the headphones from Roy and put them in his ears, he heard it too. "You're right, I hear sniffling." He handed his partner back his headphones and started digging, his heart was racing.

"Min!" 

The young woman heard the voice of her husband, she looked up, it sounded like he was behind her. "Johnny! I'm stuck! Something is on top of me!"

Roy still had on the headphones and he could hear her through them. "She said something's on top of her."

"It must be the roof, here help me." 

The two men tried to lift the roof but it was in one huge piece, they both strained until their faces were red but it wouldn't budge.

Roy was breathing hard as he stood up. "We can't lift this Johnny, its way too heavy."

Johnny tried again but still the huge piece of roof would not even move. "You're right."

Roy turned around and saw that the rest of the squad was still searching the rubble. "Hey Cap, we found Min, we need help over here!"

The four men dropped what they were doing and ran over to Johnny and Roy; Hank looked over the huge piece of roof. "Okay let's try and move this."

Everyone picked a side and a squatted down, they tucked their hands under the edge, Captain Stanley took a deep breath. "Okay ready? One, two, three!"

They all lifted at the same time and despite the extra muscle power, the roof remained flat. Captain Stanley let go of the roof and stood up he put his hands on his hips and looked at Johnny. 

"We don't have the strength to move this Johnny, we're going to have to try and lift it up with the port-a-power."

Johnny sighed and lifted the brim of his helmet up a little. "And if that doesn't work?"

The Captain's face was serious. "Then we'll have to cut it."

Johnny swallowed hard. "But Cap, my wife is under there."

"I know Johnny but what choice do we have?"

Roy was still listening to Min, he had crouched down in the area where he heard her the loudest. "Just hang on Min; we're going to get you out. Can you hear me?"

Min was still trying to move, she pulled hard and was able to get one hand free. She heard the sound of Roy's voice, he was close to her right side. "I hear you Roy! Please hurry! The air is running out!"

The sound of her voice came through on his headphones. "Okay, we'll set up the air pump so you can breathe easier okay?"

"Okay."

Roy took off his headphones and turned around; he saw that Chet was getting the port-a-power out of the engine. "Hey Chet, can you get the air pump out too?"

The dark curly haired fireman raised his hand; he opened up another compartment and took out the air pump. 

Johnny walked over to where his partner was and crouched down. "Cap said if the port-a-power doesn't work we're going to have to use the K12."

"But how can we cut it without getting Min?"

"I don't know Roy; I'm hoping the port-a-power will raise it high enough that we can get her out." He took off his helmet and his gloves and wiped his face, he still didn't feel very good but it was nothing compared to what his wife must be feeling. "Have you talked to her?"

"She said she can't breathe very well so I told Chet to bring the air pump."

Chet and Mike were carrying the port-a-power and the air pump, the two men set it down on the ground. "Where should we put the hose Roy?"

"Right here, she's loudest in this area just tuck the hose under this little corner of the roof."

Chet nodded and crouched down; he tucked the hose under and flipped on the air pump. Johnny stood up and took the port-a-power from Mike and started to put it together. 

Min could hear the voices around her, she could tell who was who and wondered what was going on and what they were doing to get her out. She took a deep breath, their seemed to be a lot more air suddenly and that made her feel a little more at ease. 

"Johnny?"

Johnny had finished putting together the port-a-power and had crouched down. He tucked it under one corner of the roof not too close to where the air hose was.

"Johnny, Min is calling you."

He leaned down closer to the roof. "Min…we're going to get your out of here okay? You just have to hang on."

Roy heard her response. "She said that she's hanging on but she wants us to hurry."

"We're hurrying Min." Johnny stood up and took a deep breath. "Okay I'm ready, I hope this works." 

"If not the K12 is ready."

Johnny didn't want to think of that, he started pumping the handle up and down.

Min could hear this strange sound of metal straining and the repetitive sound of something moving up and down. She wasn't sure what that was but all of a sudden the tremendous weight that was pressing against her seemed to ease up.

"Johnny…whatever you doing is working."

The roof was beginning to rise up, it was at least 4 inches off the ground and the fireman was pumping that handle with all his strength. 

"It's going up, another few inches and maybe we can get her out of there."

Roy crouched down and put his hand underneath the raised section. He was hoping that if he reached far enough he could feel her. "Right, a few more should do it."

Johnny was starting to tire; he was out of breath but he had managed to raise the roof 4 more inches. "Roy…can you get her?"

His partner moved some rubble aside and laid down on his stomach, he took a flashlight out of his pocket and turned it on. He saw Johnny's wife, she was at least a foot away from where they were and could see the top of her head. "Min, I can see you, can you move?"

The adrenaline was pumping through her, she wiggled a little bit. "Yeah I can move."

Roy set the flashlight down and scooted partly under the roof, he stretched out his arm towards her. "Take my hand Min."

Everything felt like it was made of lead, her arms and legs but she managed to raise her arms above her head. She started to stretch towards Roy, it hurt her chest to do so but she didn't care. 

"I'm reaching."

Roy could see that he almost had her; he scooted farther underneath the roof and finally stretched out and grabbed her hand. "Gotcha! Hold on tight."

Min was smiling, she felt his gloved hand and it was the most wonderful thing she had ever touched. "I will."

Roy started backing out; he was pulling Min at the same time. Johnny was watching all of this and he felt the weight of the roof start to overpower the strength of the port-a-power. "Roy, hurry, I don't think this thing is going to hold!"

Min was sliding along the ground, there were bits of concrete and broken glass biting into her back. She saw the light coming from the raised roof, she was almost out. Roy was on his knees, he pulled back with all of his might and the young woman's dark hair emerged from the lifted roof. Johnny wanted to drop what he was doing and grab his wife but he couldn't at that moment, he was still holding up the roof. Roy let go of her hand and grabbed underneath her arms and pulled her all the way out. She was covered with plaster dust and her arms and legs were bleeding. 

"Get her clear Roy the roof is about to go!"

Roy nodded and picked her up carefully; he carried her over to the squad and laid her down on a yellow tarp that had been spread on the ground.

Johnny was trying with all his might to keep the roof up but the port-a-power was fast losing the battle. He felt the handle slip out of his hand and dove away from it as the heavy roof came crashing down with a loud thud. There was a huge cloud of dust and Johnny raised his head, he coughed at the sudden plaster smell and got up slowly. 

Min saw him stand and she was relieved that the roof didn't get him. He started heading towards her and she tried to get up but Roy had his hand on her shoulder. "Just hold on Min, I need to check you out."

"But…"

"Don't worry he's coming." He took off his gloves, helmet and coat; he looked down at her legs and began to probe them gently.

Johnny crouched down and watched his partner. "Anything broken?"

"No, but I haven't checked her arms or her ribs." Roy stopped what he was doing and moved back, he looked down at the young woman and smiled. "Well here he is Min."

Johnny took off his coat and smiled down at his wife. She sat up and got a terrible pain in her stomach like she had been punched. She threw her arms around her husband and hugged him hard, she started to cry.

He was never so relieved in his life; Johnny sighed as he held his wife against him and heard the sound of her sniffling. 

"Hey now, it's all right. You're safe; we need you to lay back down so we can look at you, okay?"

"Okay."

Johnny pulled back and she laid back down. Roy saw the way she flinched when she sat up. "Min, I'm going to lift up your shirt, okay?"

Min was wiping her face, she felt totally drained. "Okay."

Roy lifted up her dusty blue t-shirt and both he and Johnny gasped. She was purple from below her bra to her belly button. "I can see now why she flinched." He looked down at Johnny's wife and smiled a little. "Hurts to breathe right?"

"Right, am I bruised?"

Johnny shook his head "You are a walking grape Honey; I'm going to check your ribs, okay?"

"Okay."

Johnny reached down and gently touches her sides, she gasped. "I'm sorry Sweetie but I have to check to see if they are busted."

Min bit her lip. "I know but it still hurts."

He went all the way to the waist band of her shorts; he leaned back on his haunches and sighed. "Well they aren't broken but you're going to be more colorful than a velvet painting."

"More good news, like this hasn't been a tough day already?"

Roy chuckled. "Well you are going to have to go to Rampart Min."

This made the young woman lift her head and look at Roy. "What? Why?"

"You've got bruises Min and we can't tell for sure if something's broken."

Min turned her attention to her husband, who was nodding. "You aren't going to make me go are you?"

"Roy's right, you have to get checked out. You could have internal injuries."

"But…I want to stay here with you."

"You can't, half the city is destroyed and there is still the possibility of aftershocks. You'd be safer at the hospital."

"Oh like I was safe in the apartment?"

Johnny narrowed his eyes a little at his wife. "Min, this isn't something we can argue about you're going to Rampart and that's final."

Min's brown eyes grew cold and her lips thinned out, she didn't like the fact that her husband had given her an order like she was a child. She didn't say a word; she simply looked at him and laid back down on the ground. Roy saw the face Min made and being an old married man he knew what that look meant, she was angry. The ambulance pulled up and the two attendants rolled the stretcher over to where the two paramedics were.

"Is this our patient?"

Roy looked at the two men. "Yeah, we have no contact with Rampart because of all that's going on; just take her to the hospital."

"You got it." 

The two men dressed in white opened the straps and tried to pick Min up, she slapped their hands away. "I can get on without any help!"

"Yes Ma'am." 

They both backed off and watched as Min slowly got up; she sat down on the stretcher and swung her legs around. The two men covered her with a blanket and fastened the straps across her chest and legs; she looked at her husband once more before closing her eyes.

"Are we going or not?"

The attendants looked at Roy sideways as they checked to make sure the straps were secure, they rolled the stretcher away and lifted it into the ambulance. Johnny sighed as he watched the guys climb into the ambulance. The lights and siren came on as it pulled away and he crossed his arms over his chest.

"She's angry."

"Yeah I noticed but you're right, she can't stay with us and she does need to be checked out."

Johnny turned and looked at his partner. "If I'm so right why do I feel bad?"

"Because you had to put your foot down and be firm with her, if you hadn't done that she would still be here arguing with you."

He rubbed his hands over his face. "Yeah I put my foot down all right, right onto a land mine." 

Dr. Joe Early came into the examining room and looked at the young woman lying on the table. 

"Hi, I'm Joe Early." 

Min looked at him, and smiled. "Hi Dr. Early, I don't know if you remember me but I'm Min Gage, Johnny's wife."

"Oh that's right I remember, how have you been?"

"Well I've been better."

The doctor chuckled a little. "Yeah I bet you have been, may I take a look?"

"Sure."  

He rubbed his hands together to make them warm and lifted her shirt all the way up. "I see, and what caused this?"

"I was in my apartment building and it collapsed with me in it, the roof was on top of me."

Joe nodded his head. "Well we better make sure nothing is broken so I'm going to go get Dixie to take you to X-ray, okay?"

"Okay."

He reached down and patted her on the hand. "You're going to be just fine."

Min smiled at him. "Thanks Dr. Early."

"You're welcome." He turned around and left the exam room.

"Are you comfortable?" Dixie fluffed out a pillow and eased the young woman back gently against it.

"Yeah I'm okay."

Dixie adjusted the blanket that was across Min's legs, she saw the way her patient was frowning. "You don't look okay."

"Been a bad day."

The older woman sat down on the edge of the bed. "I heard about your apartment building, I'm sorry."

Min shrugged her shoulders. "It doesn't matter Dix, all that stuff can be replaced."

Dixie creased her brow. "Then why the long face Min?"

Min was playing with the ends of the sheet. "Johnny and I kinda had a fight."

"About what?"

She looked down at the light blue hospital gown she was wearing; she ran her hand down it. "After Roy and Johnny got me out, they told me I was going to have to come here to be checked out."

"And you didn't want to right?"

"Right, I was afraid Dix."

Dixie moved closed to the young woman and smoothed the hair away from her face. "Afraid of what?" Her voice was soft and soothing, like a mother's that made Min feel more comfortable.

"That I'd never see him again."

"I think I understand." She touched Min gently on the cheek. "You know part of 51 collapsed, the bunkhouse. Johnny and Roy were in it and they had to be rescued themselves."

Min looked at the woman with wide eyes. "Why didn't he tell me?"

"He probably figured you had enough to worry about since you had a building on top of you too."

She sighed and closed her eyes. "We both could have died today Dix. We were lucky, a lot of people weren't so lucky today."

Dixie touched the young woman's hand. "I know puts a lot of things in perspective doesn't it?"

"Yeah it does." Min turned her hand over and squeezed Dixie's.

"So what are you two going to do?"

"Stay with my family until we can find another place."

"Have you heard from any of your family?"

"No, but if the news talks about my apartment complex I'm sure I will."

Dixie gave her hand a return squeeze and got up. "Why don't you try and get some rest?" She started to leave when Min called out to her and she turned around.

"I didn't mean to make Johnny angry; do you think he knows that?"

The RN simply nodded. "I'm sure he does, I'll be back to check on you later."

"Okay Dix, thanks."

Min adjusted herself in the bed; she closed her eyes and tried to sleep.

Chief Forrester had come by the stationhouse to survey the damage that had been done to the bunkhouse. He told Captain Stanley that a representative from the city would be by to inspect it and things would be put in motion to get their bunkhouse rebuilt. This meant that the station was officially off duty for the next 48 hours. In the meantime the men would have to sleep on cots set up in the TV room, the chairs the men all sit on were moved to the locker room. Johnny was lying on one of the cots directly under the chalkboard. He had a wet washcloth draped over his eyes and his hands were folded on his chest.

"Still feel bad don't you?" Roy sat down on the cot next to his partner.

"No comment."

"I told Cap about your head, he wants me to take you to Rampart."

"I'll go when we're off duty."

"We_ are_ off duty Johnny."

He reached up and took the washcloth off of his eyes. He looked up at the clock, it read 7 o'clock. "It's not 72 hours yet Roy; we still have 11 to go."

Roy shook his head. "'Fraid not partner, we are officially off as of about a half hour ago."

"Why?"

"Chief said so, I think it's because of the bunkhouse and besides even if it isn't who's going to argue with him?"

"So who's going to cover our sector?"

"33."

Johnny sat up slowly. "Those rookies? Well it'll be good for them, for how long?"

"We have the next 48 off."

He sighed and set the washcloth down. "Most of which I'll probably be spending at Rampart next to my angry wife."

"She's probably not mad anymore Johnny."

Johnny stood up, he felt worse and his head was spinning like a washing machine. He tried to walk and stumbled a little bit. Roy saw him start to fall and he grabbed his partner by the shoulders. "I think we'll go to Rampart now."

"Good idea Roy, everything is going around and around."

"Come on." Roy put his arm around his partner's waist. "Put your arm around my shoulders."

Johnny draped his left around across Roy's shoulders; it made him feel steadier on his feet. His stomach felt like a 3 ring circus was going on inside it. "I think I might be sick."

Roy set him back down on the cot. "All right, put your head between your knees and breathe deeply."

Johnny was breathing hard as he bent over, the position made him feel less nauseous; he took a few deep breaths.

"Feel better?"

"A little."

"Still going to be sick?"

Johnny raised his head slowly. "No."

Roy grabbed Johnny's arm and slung it back across his shoulders. "Okay come on."

They stood back up and headed for the door.

Dr. Early tucked his penlight into the breast pocket of his snow white coat. "Congratulations Johnny, you've got a concussion."

Johnny was sitting on the exam table, his legs dangling. "I know, what about the back of my head?"

"It's just a scratch."

He rubbed the back of his neck. "So what's the diagnosis?"

"24 hours for observation and as little activity as possible."

Johnny shook his head. "No good Doc, I only have two days off."

"That'll be fine, just rest whenever you're not on a run, deal?"

"Deal."

"In the meantime I have a lovely room picked out just for you."

Johnny tilted his head back and sighed. "Let me guess, right beside a beautiful yet slightly angry nightclub owner?"

Joe shook his head and laughed. "She wasn't angry a few minutes ago."

Dixie came into the room. "Hi Johnny what are you doing here?"

The grey haired doctor turned around and looked at her. "He's got a concussion Dix, put him beside his wife."

"Sure Joe, come on Johnny."

The paramedic got down from the table and followed the nurse. "So what happened to your head?"

They were walking down the busy hall towards the room Min was in. "I got hit with falling bunkhouse."

Dixie stopped in front of the door, she was about to push it open when she saw Johnny's face. "What's wrong?"

"Min is in there."

She remembered what Min had told her about the disagreement they had; she put her hand on her friend's shoulder. "She wants to see you."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm positive, come on." She pushed open the door and they both went inside.

"Min…"

The mention of her name pulled the young woman from the land of dreams, she opened her eyes. 

"Hmm?"

She turned in the direction of her name and saw her husband; he was wearing a white gown lying in the bed beside hers. "Johnny?"

He smiled at her and nodded. "Yeah it's me."

"What are you doing here?"

"Concussion." He sighed and rubbed his face. "And a scratch on the back of my head."

Min carefully turned on her side. "Was it from the bunkhouse falling on you?"

Johnny lifted his head and looked at her. "How did you find out about that?"

"Let's just say that a little birdie told me."

"Was this birdie wearing a white uniform by any chance?"

"Maybe."

She swung her legs around and placed them gently on the floor, she got down from the bed and her bruises reminded her that they were there.

"Where are you going?"

Min walked over to her husband's bed and sat down on the edge; she reached out and touched her husband's face. "I'm sorry about earlier I was just scared."

He gazed at her with those liquid brown eyes of his. "What scared you?"

"The idea that I might not see you again."

"Well here I am."

Min leaned down and rested her head on his chest. "And I'm glad."

Johnny put his hands around her. "Have you heard anything from your family?"

"No, and I'm worried about them."

"You said Bo lives above the club, right?"

"Right he just moved there, the construction on it was finally finished last week."

"We passed by it on the way back from a call, the building was still standing."

"That's good, maybe he went to check on the others."

"Or maybe he's right here."

The couple turned towards the door and saw Bo standing there. Min got down as fast as her bruised and battered body would allow, she went over to her brother and hugged him hard. She didn't care of squeezing him hurt, she was just glad he was okay. "I'm so glad to see you."

Bo held his little sister tightly to him. "Me too, when I heard about your complex I wasn't sure if you were alive or not."

Min let go of her brother and put her hand on her stomach. "Believe me I wondered that myself."

"Were you hurt?"

"Just bruised."

Bo walked her back to her bed and smiled at her roommate. "Hi Johnny."

"Hey Bo."

"I heard about your station too, were you in that room?"

"Yeah it was wild, got conked in the head for my trouble."

Bo was wearing jeans and a white t-shirt that said _SKIDZ_; he put his hands on his hips. "You both had close calls."

Min was back in her bed. "What about Luke, Daisy and Enos?"

"They're fine." He pulled up a nearby chair and sat down between the two beds.

Johnny draped his arm across his eyes. "I guess you and I are the only ones that lost everything Min."

"We didn't lose everything."

"Yeah we did."

Min shook her head. "The storage facility, remember?"

Bo looked at her. "What storage facility?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that."

"Why did you get one of those?"

"Because Bo, we got a lot of wedding presents, and our apartment became cluttered so we put a lot of stuff in storage and we opened up a safety deposit box for important papers and bank books."

Johnny uncovered his eyes. "So all we lost was the basic stuff, dishes, clothes, furniture."

Min nodded. "Right, everything else like my jewelry box and Johnny's antique pistol collection, even photo albums are stored."

"It's a good thing but that doesn't change the fact you're homeless."

Min scowled at her brother. "Thanks for the kind words of comfort Bo."

Johnny had his eyes closed, he felt a little bit better, everything had stopped spinning. "What are we going to do about that, we're going to get released tomorrow."

"You can stay with me."

"We can't Bo, you live above the club. How is Johnny going to get any rest for work?"

Bo hadn't thought of that. "You're right and we don't close until 2 am."

Johnny opened his eyes and smiled at his brother-in-law. "Thanks for the offer though Bo."

Min was chewing on her thumbnail. "We could ask Daisy and Enos."

"True, they've got plenty of room, and I'm sure they would be more than happy to open their door to their cousin and cousin-in-law."

The couple had a late supper together, Johnny had fallen asleep and Min used this opportunity to turn on the television. She clicked the remote and flipped it to channel 7; they always had the best coverage of the latest events. The first image she saw was an aerial view of the city it showed many of the buildings were nothing but huge piles of rubble and this made her gasp.

_"As you folks at home can see, a good portion of this city has been devastated by this afternoon's earthquake. The USC Berkeley Seismology Lab reported that the earthquake was a 7.3 on the Richter scale and lasted for approximately 45 seconds, the lab also states that this is the worst quake since the San Francisco earthquake from 1906."_

Min put the TV on mute; she didn't want to hear anymore the pictures spoke for themselves. The damage was incredible, streets that she had driven down were not littered with bricks and large chunks of cement, and buildings that she had seen and was familiar with were nothing more than piles of powder and twisted steel. She sighed, wondering how many people had lost their lives; it was unthinkable that something so brief could cause so much destruction.

"Turn it off Min."

The voice of her husband startled her and she raised the remote and clicked off the TV. 

"I was just watching the news." She set the remote down and turned towards her husband. "How do you feel?"

He had his arms tucked under his head. "Okay, better."

"So what's going to happen with the bunkhouse?"

"That's why I'm off for the next couple of days, the city is going to take a look at what happened and probably get a contractor in there to give an estimate."

"How bad was it?"

"Pretty bad. I don't remember much, it happened too fast."

"I think maybe we should just look for a house, I've had enough of apartment living."

Johnny turned his head towards her. "You want a house?"

Min nodded. "Yeah, a place of your own, don't you think that would be nice?"

He scooted over and curled his finger at her. "Come over here."

She got up from her bed and joined her husband on his; it felt wonderful to be so close to him. "What do you think?"

Johnny put his arms around her and drew her to him. "I think it'd be great, a double car garage, a nice big backyard." They were lying sideways, holding each other.

"We'd have a lot more room."

"And we could paint it any color we want and not have to worry about whether or not the landlord approves."

The sheer terror of what had happened that day made the young woman hold her husband tightly against her, everything suddenly washed out of her in a flood of tears. Johnny suddenly felt his hospital gown start to grow wet; he realized that his wife was crying.

"Hey…what's with the water works?"

"Nothing." Her voice was muffled and Johnny shook his head.

"You wouldn't be crying for nothing."

She raised her head and looked at him. "I guess I'm crying because of everything that happened. You were trapped, I was trapped, the way everything was shaking, we lost our home."

Johnny wiped the tears from her cheeks. "It was terrifying but it's over now and we both are all right and we're going to get our own place and life will go on, so no more tears, okay?"

"Okay." Her voice sounded like one of a little girl, she put her head back against his chest. Johnny kissed the top of her head and stroked her hair. "Everything is going to be all right, you do believe that don't you?"

"I believe it." She lifted her head again and kissed his lips gently. "As long as I've got you, I_ know_ things will be all right." 

Johnny smiled at her and kissed the tip of her nose. "You won't ever get rid of me."

"Promise?"

He nodded his head. "Promise."

She sighed and carefully turned over, she felt her husband curl up beside her and drape an arm across her waist. They were both in one tiny hospital bed, there was hardly any room but that didn't matter to them as long as they were together.

END.


End file.
